Evolution of microwave sea ice signatures during early summer and midsummer in the marginal ice zone

Abstract

Emissivities at frequencies from 5 to 94 GHz and backscatter at frequencies from 1 to 17 GHz were measured from sea ice in Fram Strait during the Marginal Ice Zone Experiment in June and July of 1983 and 1984. The ice observed was primarily multiyear; the remainder, first‐year ice, was often deformed. Results from this active and passive microwave study include the description of the evolution of the sea ice during early summer and midsummer; the absorption properties of summer snow; the interrelationship between ice thickness and the state and thickness of snow; and the modulation of the microwave signature, especially at the highest frequencies, by the freezing of the upper few centimeters of the ice.